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# LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. # 

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J UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f 

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®l)e ?]I)ut2 of tlje Citizen in tijese ®imes : 



A S E E M N 



PREACHED IN THE 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS, ALBANY, 



SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 21, 1861, 



./ 



BY THE REV. SYLYANUS REED. 



KECTOR OF THE CHURCH. 







ALBANY : 

MUNSELL & ROWLAND, 

PKINTERS 



SERMON. 



" Suhmit yotirselves to every ordinance of man for the LoreVs 
sake." — 1 St. Peter, ii, 13. 

The injunctions upon the civil duties of Christian 
citizens, which occur in the Epistle appointed for 
this Sunday,* will have struck your minds as very 
seasonable. The Apostle addressing himself to 
the scattered people of God, in regard, of course, 
mainly to the great truths of the Gosj)el, and the 
great requirements of faith and obedience, takes 
occasion also, to speak to them of the necessity 
and the duty of so conducting themselves among 
the unbelievers who surrounded them, as to give 
no cause of offence. He cautions them not to mis- 
apprehend the character of that religious system 
which they had embraced, nor to suppose that it 
did not design to recognize, and to allow, and to 
sanction those principles of order, and those con- 

* The Third Sunday after Easter. 



sequent duties wliicli ate plainly fundamental to the 
very existence of civil society and of human govern- 
ment. Christians were, indeed, in that age pecu- 
liarly called out of, and separated from the world 
about them : and within the church they were in 
a peculiar manner associated together in close re- 
lations, and were constituted a new society, a 
spiritual kingdom, a kingdom which was not of 
this world, and which had by itself no relations to 
the political or social systems under which they 
were living. In this situation they might perhaps 
have imagined that they were even detached from 
the interests of the state, and from the obligation 
of the duties which devolved upon subjects and 
citizens of the state, under the laws and govern- 
ment of which they lived. The Apostle therefore 
would seem to design to teach them, that they 
were not to regard themselves as exonerated from 
the obligations which rested upon others, toward 
that temporal government of which they were sub- 
jects, and to warn them against everything of a 
factious and insubordinate character; and to ad- 
monish them emphatically to be obedient to those 
who in the Providence of God were set to rule over 
them ; and so to be conformed to that civil con- 
dition of things in which they were living, by the 
ready discliarge of the duties of citizens and sub- 
jects. The Apostle did not write his Epistle for 
the purpose of instructing the followers of Christ 
in regard to their political rights, or their civil 



duties ; but he finds occasion to recognize, and to 
express the authority of the great social and po- 
litical obligations of men, obligations inherent in 
the nature of society, and sanctioned by that Laio 
which emanated originally from the very Throne 
of God, and proceeded from His word. " Submit 
yourselves to every ordinance of man forthe Lord's 
sake." 

Without going beyond the text, two things we 
shall have here to remark : 1st. The recognition of 
an inherent and general obligation on the part of 
the members of a civil community, to sul^mission 
and obedience. 2d. The holy Apostle adds the 
express sanction of Divine authority to that obli- 
gation, and enforces the duty of subordination and 
loyalty and obedience, by that name which is above 
every name. "Submit yourselves to every ordi- 
nance of man for the Lord's sake." 

But this instruction of St. Peter is far from 
standing alone on the sacred page. The example 
and the precept of our blessed Saviour, on the oc- 
casion of the question about the tribute money, 
teach His followers the duty of obedience. " Ren- 
der to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to 
God the things that are God's." Consider also the 
emphatic injunction which St. Paul addressed to 
the Church of Rome, at that time exposed to the 
tyranny of Nero : " Let every soul be subject 
unto the higher powers. For there is no power 
but of God : the powers that be are ordained of 



6 



God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power^ 
resisteth the ordmance of God, and they that resist 
shall receive to themselves damnation."* The prin- 
ciple is broadly laid down, of a Divine right and 
anthority in the supreme ruler of the state, which 
attaches also to those whom he sends to execute 
his commands. And the duty is as broadly and 
strongly prescribed of submission and obedience. 
" To honor and ohey the civil autlu)rity ,'' is exhibited 
as a primary religious obligation resting upon all 
men, and required by the Law of God. 

The form of the government under wdiich the 
Christian citizen lives, does not affect the great 
principle laid down in the Word of God, nor the 
duty which that word enjoins. It is the same in a 
monarchy and in a republic. Wherever there is 
the rule of Law, the Ruler may be called by what- 
ever title men choose : the modes in which govern- 
ment may be administered may vary widely ; but 
the relations of the people, as sulijects or citizens, 
are essentially unaffected, and the duties which 
they owe to the Ordinance of Government are those 
which are thus described ; and the Christian citizen 
is required l)y the authority of religion to discharge 
those duties in the spirit of loyalty, as reverencing 
Him in whose august name the sword is borne. 

I am far from saying that this principle is an 
unlimited one ; or that these duties never can have 

* Rom. xiii, 1, 2. 



their proper exception. The history of our mother 
country would afford several instances of such lim- 
itations and exceptions, as probably none could re- 
fuse to admit. The very origin of our ovm govern- 
ment, which was established upon the basis of a 
successful Revolution, is an example of the truth, 
that subjects litwe rights as iDell as duties, and that 
riders have duties as well as paivers. No one per- 
haps can satisfactorily solve the problem, or explain 
the paradox, and say precisely where the duty of 
obedience ends, and where the right of resistance 
to oppression, to the exaggeration of the powers of 
rule, begins. In the case of our own Revolution it 
was, as is clear to my mind, no seditious and un- 
principled rebellion ; but a struggle for conceded 
and constitutional rights, violently wrested from the 
people of a great land. But the principle of the 
text is unsubverted, and the duty which it enjoins 
is incumbent on every citizen. 

It is not my purpose, however, to discuss the 
principles involved in this subject, but rather to 
invoke the authority of the precepts of God's word 
in supjDort of the great duty of loyalty to the go- 
vernment and the law, wdiich stand invested with 
sacred sanctions, and requiring of every Christian 
citizen a faithful submission and ol:>edience. Loyalty 
to the Country, the Constitution, and the Union, 
as represented impersonally to our minds ; whoever 
may administer the government ; this is the prin- 
ciple, and the feeling which impels us to dutj', as 



8 



truly and as imperatively as tho' the object of our 
allegiance sat throned, crowned, and sceptred, to 
receive the tokens of our reverence, and our service. 
It is a sad and evil day, which, long threatening, 
has settled down upon us at last in horrible discord 
and intestine strife. After half a centuiy of peace, 
the trumpet of war sounds over our land, an internal 
and sectional war, between the citizens of this 
hitherto united and happy country. For the first 
time in the whole history of this great Republic 
the bonds of unity and concord are broken among 
us, and the people of one half are arrayed in arms 
against the people of the other half The same 
men, and the children of the same men, who to- 
gether confronted the foreign foe, each ready to 
sacrifice life for the other, and both ready to die for 
the whole country, now face each other with the 
drawn sword, and all the fearful instruments of 
battle. From tlie North to South, and from East 
to West, the country is convulsed with that direst 
form of evil, CIVIL WAR; a war not of races, nor 
of creeds, but of brothers, and fellow citizens, and 
friends. It is an amazing and a terrific spectacle 
which we present to the eye of Heaven, and to the 
civilized world. The catastrophe which we have 
been for months hoping and praying to have in 
some way averted, has come, the cloud long and 
darkly rolling up from the gloomy horizon, has 
])urst at length above our heads. Misguided and 
presumptuous men, the people of the entire South, 



9 



dragging with them perhaps half the States of 
our glorious and prosperous Union, have risen up 
in armed rebellion against the National Rulers, 
have claimed to be absolved from the authority of 
the Federal Executive, and are at this moment 
pressing forward furiously in all the array of war, 
to the overthrow and destruction of our general 
Government. Already they have presumed to as- 
sault a fortress guarded by the troops, and protected 
by the flag of the United States, and have com- 
pelled its brave commander, by an overwhelmmg 
force, to evacuate it. Already the power of this 
insurrection has reached the most imposing magni- 
tude, and the supremacy of rebellion, or of law, 
must perhaps be put to the issue of battle. Already 
the whole country is turned into a camp, and the 
one absorbing topic in every quarter is the prepa- 
ration which is being made for the dreadful struggle, 
the arming and the passage of troops, the progress 
of the strife, the probable issues of the contest, 
the danger or safety of the Capitol. Alas, my 
country ! It is the darkest hour of its history, the 
saddest period it has ever seen, not only for the 
prospect of the terrors of war and carnage ; not 
only for the bloody battle field, and the tears of 
widows and orphans; not for cities sacked and 
burnt, and smiling fields ravished and desolate ; 
not for those things common to all war, and which 
our fathers and our grandfathers have seen in their 
time, but for what they were not compelled to see, 



10 



this horrid rupture of the bonds which have united 
us, this deadly contest between fellow citizens of 
the same once happy country, this fratricidal war 
rasrina; like wildfire on our common soil ! Great 
God, what a visitation is this which has come upon 
us ! Why hast Thou sent a spirit of division among 
the tribes of Israel ! Why is Thy wrath so hot 
against the sheep of Thy pasture ! 

Nevertheless, clear as the sun in the unclouded 
noonday, is the righteousness of our cause, and the 
duty of rallying one and all, with heart and with 
hand, to the support of the Government, to the 
protection of our Flag, to the maintenance of that 
principle of order and civil authority which is 
fundamental to our very existence as a community, 
and which is now assailed and imperiled by this 
audacious rebellion. That government represents 
to the citizen the majesty of Heaven, and the au- 
thority of sacred Law, the very palladium of every 
natural and political right which we possess ; and 
no hand must be raised against it with impunity. 
That flag symbolizes the Country, the Union, and 
the Constitution, as the objects of our reverence 
and our aflection ; and it must be kept floating 
freely oxer our whole land. To defend the govern- 
ment and to uphold that flag, is the imperative duty 
of every Christian citizen of the Republic, under 
the requirement of the highest obligations. The 
duty of the Patriot, the impulses of that love of 
country which is deep and strong in every true 



11 



heart, receive a higher sanction and a more solemn 
enforcement from the Word of God. " Submit 
yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's 
sake." Terrible as is the event of war, and as are 
the eifects of all war, and aggravated as is the 
character of this species of war which has been 
forced upon us, there is but one way open to us as 
citizens, as men, as Christians. The call of duty 
is stern and fearful, but it is clear and authoritative, 
and we must respond to it ; we have responded to 
it, promptly and with determination. If we claim 
the protection of the laws, if we make our home 
in this land, if we enjoy the benefits of the insti- 
tutions under which we live, then, whether this be 
our native soil or not, our duty is to be prepared to 
venture everything in its service at its need. Com- 
plicated as the disastrous subject, which has been 
the main cause of this strife, may be, it is now a 
simple and distinct question, or rather no question, 
but a plain dictate of the way in which every citi- 
zen must act, if he would not be recreant to the 
obligations which lie upon him, whatever it may 
cost him. This is a crisis in the affairs of the 
country which calls for the services of men ready 
to brave death in her cause, to protect the govern- 
ment, to maintain the supremacy of lawful rule, to 
repel the treasonable assault of the foes, whoever 
they may be, who dare to violate the authority of 
the Union, and to attack our flag. The ordinary 
duty of quietness and order is now resolved into 



12 



that of active, determined defence of the govern- 
ment, assailed by violent and wicked hands ; 
for now, in the day of peril and of need, alle- 
giance and loyalty, submission and obedience to 
the supreme authority, patriotism, and even pru- 
dence and interest, concur, to bid us unsheath 
the sword, and to wield it manfully. 

And the appeal which the countrj^ has made to 
the duty of her children, is answered far and near 
by thousands and tens of thousands who are 
gathering for her service. It is as if that procla- 
mation which occurs so remarkably in the first 
lesson this morning had been sounded from hill to 
vale, thro' our northern borders. " Prepare war, 
wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war 
draw near, let them come up. Beat your plow- 
shares into swords, and your pruning hooks into 
spears. Let the weak say, I am strong."* The 
love of country burns with ardor in the bosoms of 
our citizens, and the principles of duty, which im- 
pel men to array themselves for the protection of 
the civil authority, are always to be relied upon in 
any such emergency. Since force must be used to 
repel force, since we must try the issue of battle in 
order to the maintenance of rule, in the hands of 
those whom God has invested therewith, it is a 
source of pride to see the spirit and the courage 
with which thousands of the young men, the flower 

*Joel iii, 9, 10. 



13 



of the country, have offered themselves for the 
mihtaiy service which they are needed for. Tliere 
should be no want of soldiers in a time like this, 
when our flag is imperiled, when insurrection is 
raising its wild crest, and the very citadel of the 
Union is threatened ; and there will be no lack of 
soldiers as indomitable in courage as their cause is 
just, and their duty clear, and sanctioned by the 
Word of God. No nobler use can be made of life 
than to give it in the discharge of duty for the ser- 
vice of our country, to strengthen the arm of our 
rulers in the time of danger, and thus to defend 
and protect the dearest of all earthly interests; 
What memorable examples of patriotic devotion 
are inscribed on the most resplendent pages of His- 
tory, making our hearts leap as we read the record? 
What instances of that heroic spirit have the an- 
nals of our own national struggles made familiar to 
our minds ? Now is our time to show that those 
lessons of duty and courage have not been given us 
in vain, and to emulate the men of the Revolution. 
Onward, ye brave youth and veterans, and prove 
that you respond to that saying of old, " Dulce et 
decorum est," &c. : It is sweet and glorious to die 
for our country ! 

Yet, while I would thus exhibit the path of duty 
at this hour, and thus plead the cause of patriotism^ 
and incite all who can aid in the defence of the 
government to give themselves promptly for its 



14 



service and in every way to aid it, I must for myself 
protest against any supposition that I would lift my 
voice to appeal to mere sectional feelings, or to 
support a war of partisan objects. I cry shame 
on those men, who by the press, or the pulpit, 
would pervert this fearful catastrophe, this sad 
strife, to advance the ends of their wretched fanati- 
cism, the men who desire to see the Union de-- 
stroyed and the country divided, irreconcilably, and 
who rejoice in this conflict, for such reasons. We 
fight for the Union and the Constitution, and the 
whole country and its people. That is the only 
cause that can rally all, with united front, and 
with one heart, to the struggle. 

And in this hour, there are many whose hearts 
must be strong in the sense of duty, besides those 
who march beneath the flag of the Union, to battle, 
to all the hardships and all the perils of war. There 
are parents, and wives, and sisters, and daughters, 
who must part with those they love, and send them 
forth for the service of their God and their country, 
in the hot haste of the moment, and surrender them 
to the risks which they may encounter. Heaven 
help them in this their time of need. While the 
soldier, in the bustle of the camp, in the furious 
excitement of the strife, in the incessant occupation 
of the work which he is performing, can perhaps 
forget the grief of parting ; those who stay at home 
are left to the endurance of anxieties and appre- 



15 



liensions, which may have but too sorrowful a ful- 
fiUment. Let the honors of patriotism be shared 
BETWEEN THEM, and may tlieir prayers be heard, and 
answered, by Hun who is mighty to save ! And 
let them remember, that the safety of those they 
love would be dearly purchased at the expense of 
honor, and of manly courage and of duty. 

But what a fearful judgment is this which has 
at last come upon us ! We want language to ex- 
press the extent and the character of this unpar- 
alleled calamity, the horrible nature of this intes- 
tine strife which threatens to sweep its bloody wave 
over our fair land. Must this strife go on ? Must 
the sword devour forever? While we send our 
armies forth to fight for the right, and to uphold 
those whom God has placed in tlie seats of power, 
as it is our duty, let us humble ourselves before 
God, and implore him speedily to withdraw from 
us this scourge, and in the abundance of His good- 
ness to spare us, and give peace in our time. We 
wait for Thy loving kindness, Lord, in the midst 
of Thy Temple ! 






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